August 17, 2010
My Devotion
My Heart
Every Six Steps
By Teresa Preston Jenkins

So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. David wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all His might, what He and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. 2Samuel 6:12-15

To carry the ark of the Lord was a great burden and privilege, with that responsibility came great awareness of who God was and is. The ark had been stolen and had not been with the people for a long time, it had been a long time since they had possession of it. I’m no historian, but even though things aren’t holy, they can help us to relate to the holiness of God and where He chooses to dwell, Today you and I are the ark of the Lord. WE are sacred like the ark was to the people of Israel because Jesus came to live in us the moment we accepted Him. Every time the ark was brought into their camp or moved, great shouts of praise and worship and honor was given to God. David took thirty thousand men to go get the ark and bring it back to the people as they began to return home the verse says those that carried the ark took six steps and worshipped and praised God. I’m not sure how far they had to travel, but I’m sure it took a while to get back home because they were praising God every six steps meant they were continuously praising God for His return to them. Have you ever heard the saying life is not about the destination, but the journey.

I am on a journey to the place where the Lord dwells. I am desperate for His presence in my life. It is what I think about all the time these days, but I fail in some way every day. I allow everything else to be first in my life. I get up with every good intention, but so quickly the unfolding agenda of the day captures my mind and heart. Before I realize it my mouth is pouring out filth of complaining and arguments, instead of worship and praise and encouragement. I find myself in the pit of resentment and disappointment instead of contentment and peace. Just as quickly as the ugly moves in the guilt and shame moves in and I have to go back and make apologies for things I said in a desperate attempt of venting it out of my system. My heart needs a remodel, a total reconstruction…

For where your treasure is there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, you whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness. Matthew 6:21-23

You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in Him. Matthew 12:34-35

I cry in my spirit for the evil thoughts I allow to flow out of me. Father forgive me, where I fail to bring light by the words I speak for allowing my heart to be darkened by the abundance of negativity, jealousy and fear that ultimately keeps me from your presence. How many times a day are any of us guilty of allowing darkness to pour out by the bad things we think. Its ugly like a thick crusty scab of a wound on the skin. I want no more of it poisoning my heart and attitude. So how do we get rid of the darkness, bad thoughts, bad attitudes, and sin that flows from our mouth because our hearts have become corrupted?

There is only one way and that is through abiding constantly in His presence and His presence abiding in us. Before you argue that if we have accepted Christ He is always with us and in us. While that is true, the question is; how much are we allowing Christ to live out loud in us. Yes we keep him quietly tucked away until the next crisis, but rarely allow Him to have TOTAL CONTROL of our every thought, movement, and action. We have to actively, consciously remove any unclean and unacceptable thing from our heart and replace it with the fullness of God. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24 Be careful this is the place where it hurts and the battle rages against us. The struggle to cleanse our heart from evil will be a messy battle because we are not only battling against ourselves, but every force of evil will rise up and fight against us because the cleaner we become the more of Christ is evident in us and their imminent defeat is drawn closer. Jesus has already won the war against Satan and his evil demons, but while we are here we must face their force every day. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then…Ephesians 6:12-14

Ladies and Gentlemen the day of evil comes every day. There are evil forces trying to keep us down and defeated so that no more will find Jesus, so that when Jesus does comes our reward will be less than what it ought to be and there will be less people to enter the gates of heaven because Satan and his schemes have kept our hearts corrupted with bad thoughts and attitudes that keeps us from testifying of the love of Christ in us. His presence fully alive in us is crucial to His kingdom and His holiness within us. Don’t let him devour you and the joy of your salvation. Don’t give away the Power that is at work in you. Stand firm and fight the good fight of faith; praise and worship the Lord your God and rise in victory over the battles you come against. The victory is in His presence, live in the continuous victory through continuous praise and worship

We are the dwelling place of God, the ark that carries His presence, worship and praise God, dance in the street like David every six steps. Give Him the praise and the glory all day long!

In HIS Time
Teresa
My Devotion, My Heart by Teresa Preston | ISBN # 978-1-61566-460-3
http://mydevotionmyheart.blogspot.com

Everything else...

My Devotion
My Heart
Everything else…
By Teresa Preston Jenkins

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8

But seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

I wrote not too long ago about what we get out of getting closer to God. What’s really in it for us? What do we get out of seeking Him first, asking Him first? Most of what we want or think we need we can get on our own, right? With a little hard work and determination we can do most everything on our own, right? Well that’s a delusion the world wants you to believe and for the most part we have but even our abilities and determination are gifts from the one who created us. Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17 Every good thing we think we’ve done on our own was still a gift from God.

Jesus asked a very straightforward question; What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? (Matthew 16:26) Yet that is exactly the very trap we fall into, giving up our families, our very lives just trying to get ahead or to provide all the amenities of this world for our family when the key to life is life filled with Christ. Do you really think Jesus would just ask a rhetorical question for the sake of argument? We trade our soul every time we chase after something that is less than what God wants to give to us. Instead of taking God literally for what He says…”seek Him first.” We think we have to chase the illusive American dream.

It is completely about getting to know the perfect gift giver, not about what we can get for ourselves. We work way too hard at what is not even important in the grand scheme of life. What are your hopes? What are your dreams? What are you working for? What do you want? Now where are you looking to find your hopes and dreams? There is only one door that holds every dream you dream and even the ones you don’t even know you’re dreaming of. Jesus is the only one who can open the door. Ask Him for guidance. Seek His way to find His door of opportunity. Knock and it will be opened for you. There is only one way to life that you hope for, and that is through Jesus. He said; “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except though me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” John 14:6-7

It is all about knowing HIM first…then…everything else will come.


In HIS Time
Teresa